The DNA test helped the two sister find their sibling, who had been separated from them after the baby was born.
The story began in 1951. Nora Ross, a 19-year-old citizen of Sioux Lookout, gave birth to a daughter in one of the Montreal hospitals. Nora gave her up to adoption at once, and after that returned home. The relatives didn’t know about her pregnancy.
Later she got married and her family moved to Winnipeg. There Nora had three more daughters. She never mentioned the elder sibling in front of the children. In the early 80s, Nora died.
Ten years later, the aunt uncovered Nora's secret to the children. However, she couldn't tell anything more: the woman only knew that the lost child was born in Montreal in November 1951.
The women started to look for the lost sibling at once. First, there was an attempt to get some information from the archive; however, it did not succeed. In 2018, Gwen Ross-Cieslak, one of the siblings, took a DNA test in a genealogical website.
After getting the results, Gwen found out that there was a strong possibility of her relationship with some Lonita Stewart, aged 66, from Ontario.
Gwen and her sister contacted Lonita. The possible relative told the date she was born on — and it was the 100% match with the information from the aunt! So it became obvious that Lonita Stewart was the lost sister they were looking for.
Finally, on August 14th 2018, Lonita met her siblings for the first time. The woman said that during so long period she never thought that someone might have been looking for her. It was just astonishing, Lonita says.